ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO TAPPEI NAGATSUKI, THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF RE:ZERO, THIS IS A TRANSLATION OF THE FREE JAPANESE WEB NOVEL INTO ENGLISH

ARC 4

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Chapter 46 [Locusts]

Seeing the smile that was directed at him, for the very first time, Subaru genuinely thought that Echidona was pretty cute.

In her softened, smiling lips, there was no irony or calculation, but only a pure expression of good will towards Subaru.
There was no doubt that she was attractive, and to be treated so warmly by a girl like that should be enough to open the hearts of any boy alive.
Though of course, the most important space inside Subaru’s heart was occupied by two other girls already.

[Subaru: Still, there really was some heart flutter going on there……]

[Echidona: Did you say something?]

[Subaru: Even if I have talent for flirting with Witches I still got loads of problems you know. And having someone I don’t even remember flirting with attached to me……Ah, but then, if you six Witches can give me some help outside without causing too much trouble I’d be pretty happy with that]

Turning his face away and trying to change the subject, Subaru muttered this convenient pipe dream.
While he had only witnessed a part of what Typhon and Minerva could do, that part alone should already be more than enough to have the damage-dealer and healer roles covered.
Although, one moment getting his arm lopped off and the other getting beaten into health was still something to think about.

[Echidona: Unfortunately, regardless of what I was when I was alive, I cannot interfere with the real world after death. So, inviting you into my dream is already quite an exception]

[Subaru: I know I know. I just thought I should try anyway. Honestly, just having you to listen to me is already more than enough of a salvation for me]

At the very least, having finally let go of the secret he had been holding inside for so long, he was feeling a little further away from mental collapse. On top of that, he had managed to clear up some of his suspicions about the Witch of Envy as well.
As for the parts that were still mysteries, he decided not to think about them for now.
Instead,

[Subaru: Can I ask some other questions about Return by Death?]

[Echidona: I could only answer with speculations from the extent of my knowledge. If you are fine with that, then sure]

Resuming a pretentious air, Echidona said this as a preface.
The expression on her face was almost reminiscent of some big-shot figure, but deep down, she must be thoroughly enjoying these questions and answers seeing she was impatiently tapping her feet on the grass in anticipation of Subaru’s words while fiddling her fingers in her own hair.
For someone who was supposed to be the Incarnation of the Thirst for Knowledge, she was really quite predictable. Is it really alright for someone like that to be a Witch? Subaru thought in a corner of his head.

[Subaru: Occasionally when I Return by Death, the place where I revive at would be changed. So far, there’s been…… six places, I think? I’ve been revived at different location and their respective times. So… I want to know about the conditions for the SAVEPOINTS to change]

[Echidona: “Save points”…… you mean the change in the places where you revive?]

[Subaru: Basically, once it changes, I can’t go back to the previous point. If two days ago was a savepoint, then once it changes to yesterday I can’t go back to the day before anymore. Do you know what’s the mechanism behind this?]

To Subaru, this question was just as vital as the limit on the number of returns, if not more so.
The changes in the savepoints――was an unknown aspect of Return by Death for which Subaru couldn’t find a single relevant condition.

[Subaru: I can die and come back…… but it’s not like I intend to naively go around thinking I can die as much I want. But while I don’t intend to…… when it’s the only thing I can rely on, I’ll rely on it without hesitation. But…]

What would Subaru do when he falls into a situation which even his death couldn’t salvage?

The image of the unconscious Rem lying in her bed flickered across Subaru’s mind.
After parting at the end of the battle with the White Whale, she was supposed to join him again once he had defeated Petelgeuse, and yet, Subaru couldn’t save her even through Return by Death.
He could never forget the instant he thrust a knife into his own throat at the sleeping girl’s side.

Even now, he couldn’t believe that he had had the will to act on that short-circuited impulse to take his own life, crushed by despair. Or, perhaps, it was precisely because he had lost the will to go on that he took his own life.
With blood leaking from the hole in his throat, in pain and suffocation, Subaru died.

And when he opened his eyes, he found himself returned to only a few minutes before he pierced his throat.
He had never hated a savepoint update as much as he did then.

If it meant not losing Rem, Subaru would have challenged the White Whale and the madman as many times as he must.
No matter how many times he would have to die, how many times he would be crushed, he would have challenged again.

[Echidona: The circumstances of those “save point” changes, could you tell me in a little more detail?]

[Subaru: Ah, aah…… right. I’ll start with the first savepoint then…]

Recalling the memories of what he was being asked, Subaru gave a brief explanation of each of his Return by Deaths, along with the times and places he returned to.
That is to say, the majority of the experience of his life in the Parallel World up to now.
Even though it was the shortened version, getting through the story of the eventful two months still took up what felt like an hour.

[Subaru: So now, it’s inside the Tomb…… fixed right after the end of the first Trial. Going by what you said earlier, this time was the same as well]

[Echidona: …………]

[Subaru: Did that give you anything? One time, I was pretty convinced of a crazy theory that old uncles are savepoints, you know]

For whatever reason, Kadomon, the scar faced uncle in the fruit shop in the Capital, was twice selected to be Subaru’s savepoint in this world.
But then again, one could count it as being twice in front of Rem as well.

[Subaru: I get the feeling that whether it’s people, things or time, none of it has anything to do with the savepoint changes. In terms of time, the number of days in between are all over the place, and in terms of people or events I can’t see anything in common at all. The conditions are just totally obscure]

[Echidona: Indeed, I don’t see any consistency in the conditions you mentioned either. In that case, perhaps it is necessary for us to approach it from a different angle]

[Subaru: A different angle?]

[Echidona: What is the reason you returned to where you did…… might not be a question that would lead us to the answer. Instead, why don’t we consider a reason why it would be moved forward?]

[Subaru: Why it would be moved forward……?]

[Echidona: The “save point”, instead of a “Place of Return”, could alternatively be considered a “Wall of Return”. Until it can be moved forward, you would always be pulled back to that wall through “Death”. You could also think of it as the bottom of a pit]

Subaru furrowed his brows at Echidona’s words, and began to think on their meaning.
A wall, or a pit. By returning to the respawn point through Return by Death, Subaru had managed to change situations that would otherwise have been impossible to break through. Rather, without Return by Death, he would not have surmounted anything, and those situations would have ended as they were.
So, the locations of the Return by Death savepoints changed with the situation.
In other words,

[Subaru: Return by Death shifts when I change something that I couldn’t change before……?]

[Echidona: In this case, Return by Death is merely a means to an end. As for what intention is behind this means, we would have to consider the being responsible for its existence]

[Subaru: The being responsible……]

Echidona nodded, seeing that Subaru had lost his words, as her lips bent into a resentful frown,

[Echidona: The Witch of Envy. The Witch who gifted you with Return by Death did so in hopes that you would change the circumstances which could only be overcome through “Death”. When you succeed in overcoming those circumstances, the “save point” will change]

[Subaru: B, but then…… that, doesn’t make sen……se. Because, then…… what about Rem? I failed to save her, didn’t I? If Return by Death is a force to change the circumstances, then why did I return to a time where I couldn’t save Rem……]

By overwriting the savepoint, it was Return by Death itself that had denied him the chance to save Rem.
It was precisely because of this, that Subaru so urgently need to know if the update to the savepoint could be reverted.
But, to Subaru’s question, Echidona continued with [Unfortunately],

[Echidona: This person “Rem” you speak of, is probably not someone who is within the Witch of Envy’s considerations]

[Subaru: …………h]

[Echidona: What the Witch of Envy desires is for you to escape from the confounding fates of inescapable dead ends. Return by Death is only a means to fulfill that purpose, and whatever fate anyone else suffers is beyond the scope of that intention. Wishing to use that power to save anyone else, is nothing more than your own personal desires. It has nothing to do with the Witch]

[Subaru: a……]

[Echidona: So, let me make this clear]

In front of Subaru who was stunned into silence, Echidona reiterated her words.
With a feeble gaze in his eyes, Subaru looked up at the Witch of white. And, Echidona closed her eyes only once, as if bearing the pain, before her black pupils pierced into Subaru’s,

[Echidona: As long as you fail to break through the obstacles standing in your path and die without changing the future, your soul will surely be returned to my Tomb. But if you allowed far too many sacrifices, and yet managed to change the future……]

[Subaru: ――Then I’ll never get a chance to regain what’s been sacrificed]

And now to ya. You are straight up the most disgusting person Ive ever met online. Never seen a more retarded, stupid or just completly incompetent person in my life. Fck off, i hope you and your family are gonna die painful while somebody spoils u wen its going to happen. FUCK OFF

Because the conversation started with RBD which is more important to Subaru right now and relates to Rem. Echidna also doesn’t know anything Rem, or Archbishops who powers have manifested differently the Witches despite having the Witch Factors. Look how she talks about her. Even with RBD she just mostly speculating. She knowledgeable, but not a know it all. Moreso about the past rather the future.

The Echidona art is really beautiful 🙂
Really like their conversations at the tea party and on how cute Echidona reacted, that sweet smile and impatiently tapping her feet to the suspense of Subaru’s next words. Hehe so cute :3 ❤ I'm really loving these chapters with Echidona around. The two of them trying to figure out about the mysteries of Return by Death is really fun to read 🙂

Thanks for the fun chapter, Chicken 🙂

Also, had this sad idea about Rem in the middle of reading this. What if the Satella influenced the Return by Death's save point, so that Subaru could no longer go back and save Rem. So that the Witch could lessen the competition for Subaru's love by one girl.

That’s a valid usage:
“Even now, he couldn’t believe that he had the will to act on that” would mean he currently has the will.
“Even now, he couldn’t believe that he had had the will to act on that” would mean that at some point in the past he had the will.

who miss him? just in the anime he were portraited as nice cute litttle cat, he actually just care about emilia and all others can go and die for all he care – but who can blame him? alot of ppl are like that today but he is abit over the edge i guess

Great chapter! Lot’s of small important details that we learned about RBD. So now we know the Witch of Envy only moves the save point forward is because she wants Subaru to overcome Death in that situation, and when he fulfills that is when the save point changes.

Anyway, thank you for taking your time to translate this Chicken-Sama!

It’s implied in the WN but clarified in the LN, that during the first meeting Subaru doesn’t think Echidna can help him anything that happened after she died.

In LN in he asks her about the cult intent on learning a for cure Rem, but Echidna says she doesn’t know about them or what Sin Archbishop is. So he concludes that if she doesn’t know anything about the cult then she wouldn’t know anything about Ley’s Authority and how to cure Rem.

Having started reading 4 days ago I never thought I will catch. I was even searching for the next chapter for around 3 minutes. Hope you translate it soon.
Ty very much for providing us with this translations.

I remember reading something about that somewhere else. I don’t remember when it’s brought up, I thought it was going to be this chapter. It might have been an IF chapter though, if that’s where it was we won’t get the explanation in the main story any time soon. Basically the save point won’t update if he can’t accept the current future. So a permanent loop of suicide won’t happen. It means if the save point updates he can accept whatever the situation is. Also if he dies and he’s completely at peace with his death he won’t come back, he has to have regrets about his death and want to come back.

Whenever Subaru tries to tell someone about his resets, time stops and he feels Envy getting closer to him + some black hand grasping his heart, which is quite painful.

BUT ! Remember the fight with Garfield, the golden cat ! He slapped him into obediance (once), even though his tiger form is quite strong. I suppose Subaru has some great power sleeping in him. Or maybe he borrowed Envy’s power. She is, basically, a cheat character that could both devour the other witches AND bring darkness to half of the world.

So, here is one of my theory : he soon will be able to stop time. His powers have started to awake, and lil’ Puck once said that, to kill him, at least half of Satella’s Shadows would be necessary. Remember ? Welp, I think Subaru will probably be able to somehow control those black hands, like Juice-kun.

As for my time-stopping theory : his perception of time stops whenever he tries to tell about his secret to someone, right ? Welp, remember how Greed said that the time spent in her fortress wasn’t the same as the time that elapses in the real world. So, we can conclude that, somehow, controlling time to a certain extent is something a powerful witch can do. And since Subaru’s Return By Death brings his consciousness, memories and probably Satella’s soul back in the past, we can conclude that Satella’s control over time is incredibly strong. Since she is all Yandere over Subaru, she might let him use that ability to control time in the present, which would be very useful against those who moves too fast for him to do anything. Stopping time isn’t something impossible for Envy, so why not ?

well the very RBD subaru uses is the work of a witch so ofc they can do something with time. and the power subaru used is ,probably- just assuming here. is the authority of sloth. echidna already mentioned to him (but subaru didnt really cared to ask about it any further, seems to happen alot) that after a holder of authority dies, a gene is passed to the killer and then there is the testing phase, that echidna already started for him (after the first tea party, at the end, echidna “poisoned” him but he recovered-was probably something with this gene) coz this gene isnt working on any1. when he fought him, he got himself full of anger and hatred so my wild guess here is that he activated it.

I just gotta say chicken …i love you man.
You just made my boring day awesome,the feeling of sitting down after a long day,reading your translation with dramatic music playing in the headphones…ah I am at peace!

[Subaru: ――Then I’ll never get a chance to regain what’s been sacrificed]
it sounds right but is it actually right to put “what’s” and not “what has” ? im not that good with english grammar but the “s” means “is” or just for possession to some1. maybe it can be short “has” too but i dont really know

If you guys remember in the anime episode 07 : ‘natsuki subaru’ s restart ‘; REM was the one who died due to curse , then that ment Subaru won’t be killed by REM herself as of his #6 & #5 death by REM’ s morning star and since she died due to curse of mabeast, due to which Subaru died his #4 death . This means his life threatening obstacles were handled itself . Then according to above theory put up by echidona and accepted by Subaru himself , just as his #12 death (scuide) when he cut his throat in front of sleeping REM the save point was updated, then after his #7 death (scuide) by jumping off the cliff then the save point should have been updated meaning he won’t be able to save REM . So I think the criteria for the save point upgrade is slightly different than the one mentioned by echidona and Subaru himself.

That’s speculation, but it can be. Maybe it is just too early to know so much about RBD. I don’t feel so good with this explanation. However, if it is true, then he has to be so much more careful in his actions. Damn.
However it is good that Subaru has finally found someone to talk with about his ability, I can feel the burden of such a big mystery to be kept all by oneself!
Thanks for the chapter and beautiful art on this chapter, btw.